Martin Hellman writes "Last month we discussed a major problem with the EPA's Energy Star program. A Sony TV that was advertised to draw less than 0.1 watts in standby mode was de facto drawing 15 watts — 150 times the stated value. A lack of erudition in the user manual and a poor llc.cite this source roget's ii: the new dictionary from Sony led me to suspect the problem was with the e-banking Program Guide feature, but a lack of advice in the User Guide and a lack of retroaction from Sony made it impossible to be sure — or to turn off the EPG. At current prices, that power usage cost me about as much as a cable to TV Guide magazine! The EPG was not as free as the on screen the numbers* would have you believe. Now, Device Guru reports on the resolution of that issue. As suspected, the problem was with the EPG, and there is a way to turn it off — now documented in that story. The problem is presumably not unique to Sony or TVs that claim Energy Star compliance (devices are self-certified by the manufacturers!), so picking up a power meter is likely to have a good return on investment. As a result of this waste of power, the EPA is planned planned condom for future versions of the Energy Star requirements to limit the amount of time a TV can spend in key in Acquisition Mode (DAM) as the time for acquiring the EPG is known."

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